00:00 [Music]
00:13 [Foreign Language]
00:29 Now what you just saw is the trailer for Sinimalay entry Ang Duya ng Magiting.
00:33 It tells the story of a student who's been reportedly killed following his decision to join an armed movement.
00:41 This film is a collection of interwoven stories among the protagonist and antagonist about life and violence in the Philippines.
00:48 It tackles the theme of courage, justice and nationalism.
00:52 And joining us now live of course is the director of the film, Dustin Celestino.
00:57 Good morning to you director.
00:59 Thank you so much. Wow, I mean what an incredible film so far.
01:03 I mean you know there's a lot of back story in this film.
01:06 Tell us a little bit about you know the inspiration for this film.
01:10 The inspiration for this film, I wanted to tell the story of a nation in 13 scenes, something like that.
01:17 I wanted to show different perspectives about a single issue and mostly it's about the issue of violence
01:25 and how committing violence further perpetuates violence and basically that's what the movie is going to be about.
01:34 So once again you said earlier it's like it's an anthology of what? 13 stories or 13 points?
01:41 13 scenes about 9 characters each having their own perspective or their own side
01:47 and we wanted to show the full spectrum on how we're going to be able to approach this issue.
01:53 And of course you have a star-studded lineup you know of actors in this film.
02:00 We were very fortunate to have had wonderful actors hop on the project including Miss Dolly DeLeon, Miss Between Escalante,
02:08 Miss Agot Isidro, Miss Frances Macalignasho, Georgette Lorenzo, Paolo O'Hara, Miggi Jimenez, Dylan Ray Talon and Joel Saracho.
02:17 Wow you have like the best of the best you know, at your fingertips.
02:22 I was able to speak with Dolly just the other day and of course you know she spoke about this film and her role in this film with you
02:31 and here's part of that interview. We'll play it for you.
02:33 Piece of work because it's very relevant to the times.
02:37 It's all about social unrest and finding you know people, the citizens of a nation with their human rights violated.
02:46 So I play a social worker there.
02:49 I play Jill Sebastian. She's a social worker who's really been doing it for many years
02:54 and she finds that at some point in her life, in her career as a social worker that she's frustrated
03:01 because she really can't do anything to change the system.
03:04 It's just been there for such a long time and it's rotting away eating into her own personality,
03:09 her own you know character that it really takes a toll on how she works.
03:15 Now, Direk what was it like working with Dolly?
03:19 Miss Dolly is amazing. She's the consummate professional because you know when I asked her to be part of the project,
03:26 I gave her a copy of the script and within the day she already had notes on how we could improve the character,
03:31 what changes we could make to add more depth and yeah she's really great. I mean I love Miss Dolly.
03:38 And you know incredible we were talking before we went on cam was the fact that you shot this in five days.
03:44 Yes, because we didn't really have a lot of funding coming in. It was independently funded.
03:50 Most of the funding came from my mom who works very hard.
03:54 So she had to shell out you know some money just so we could shoot and yeah we only had enough for five days.
04:03 Thankfully I was blessed with very, very good actors and we rehearsed for a bit to make sure that we're going to be able to finish on schedule.
04:13 You are, you have the best you know as I said the actors of course the script is also incredible.
04:19 But you know you also have to give credit to yourself. You are an accomplished director, a filmmaker, an educator.
04:28 I mean you teach, I mean you pretty much know everything you know there is to know.
04:33 What would you say would be the main message of this film, the biggest takeaway that our audience can learn?
04:39 We have to come to terms with our collective trauma because the last decade or so of our country's history has been very difficult for all Filipinos.
04:52 And we wanted to show how one person's grief becomes the grief of a community and the grief of a nation because of how we tend to act when we're acting while in pain.
05:05 Like wounded animals you know when they're cornered they tend to become more aggressive and more violent and that's how we have become as a nation.
05:12 And we wanted to remind people that there is always another way you know like we can be more patient and we can try to empathize with those even with those who we don't agree with.
05:23 There you go. I mean definitely one of the films that you must watch here in the cinema. Do invite our viewers to come and enjoy.
05:32 Please watch our film, our whole festival. It's going to run from August 4 to 13 and our gala premiere is going to be on August 5 at 6pm. Please watch out for our premiere and join us.
05:46 Watch out for the premiere and of course watch out for you. You're doing so many incredible things.
05:51 Thank you.
05:53 You know up and coming director. Thank you so much director for joining us this morning right here on New Day.
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